Perfecting multicolor web-press



R. N. GETCHES AND I. TORNBERG. PERFECTING MULTICOLOR WEBB PRESS.

5 SHEETSSHEET I.

2 1 R p A M m a P Inventors W 5" QM 7M kwkrg By A ttarneys B. N. GETCHESAND I. TORNBERG.

PERFECTING MULTICOLOE WEBB PRESS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 1|, 1919.

1,374,196. Pat nted Apr- 12, 1921.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

R. N. GETCHES AND I. TORNBERG.

PERFECTING MULTIGOLOR WEBB PRESS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 11. 1919. 1,374,196. Patented Apr. 12,1921. I

5 SHEETS-SHEET 3- 2Z i 1 In //22 I f l 1 25 Inventors By Attorney? MSWR. N. GETCHES AND I. TORNBERG.

PERFECTING MULTICOLOR WEBB PRESS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 11, 1919.

1,374,1 96. Patented Apr. 12, 1921.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

provide a novel apparatus for method RAYMOND IN. GETCHES, 0F GLEN RIDGE,AND ISIDOB IOBN BEBG,

NEW JERSEY.

UNITED. STATES,

PATENT OFFICE.

or rnnmrznnn, A

PERFECTING MULTICOLOB WEB-PRESS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 12, 1921.

Application filed June 11, 1919. Serial 110. 303,440. r l

To all whom it may concem:

Be it known that we, RAYMOND N. Gn'rcnns, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Glen Ridge, county of Essex, State of NewJerse and IsmoR TORNBERG, a citizen of the flnited States, and residentof Plainfield, county of Union, State of New Jersey, have jointlyinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Perfecting MulticolorWebPresses, of which the following is a full, clear, and completedisclosure.

Our invention relates to multicolor web presses and more especially tothose operatin on the intaglio principle.

%he principal object of our invention is to insure improved color toneand register in multicolor printing by providing the ink of one colorshall be dried before the next is applied.

A second object of our invention is to provide means whereby a singleunitary printing mechanism ma be used for printing webs of differentwidths.

A third object of our invention is to provide means whereby the web maybe readily kept in perfect register.

A fourth object of our invention is .tof

o applying ink to the forms.

The novel features of our invention are pointed out in the appendedclaims. invention itself, however, together with future objects andadvantages, will best be understood by reference to the followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of a web press mechanism embodying ourinvention;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view, parts being broken away, looking in thedirection of the arrow A in'Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a detail view illustrating the turning bars appearing in Fig.2;

Fig. 4 is a detail view, partly in section, of the idler rollers. andmounting therefor appearing in Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 1s a detail sectional view of our 1mproved inking mechanism;

improved The Fig. 6 is a detail view of the means for adjusting theidler rollers of-Fig. 4, F ig. 6

being taken from the left of Fig. 4;

I Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view of a multicolor web press according toour invention, ln which the web 1s perfected on a single printingcylinder or mechanism;

Fig. 8 is an elevational view, partly insection, of the lower end of apress unit, such as is shown in Figs. 1 and 7, illustrating our novelknife arrangement, our

impression cylinder arrangement, means for preventing the commingling ofinks of different colors and the manner of using roller inking mechanisminstead of the spray inking mechanism shown in Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 9 is an elevational view, parts being broken away, of onearrangement of turning bars and reversing bars used in connection withthe press unit of Fig. 7 when perfecting onthe same press unit; and

Fig. 10 is a view similar to Fig. 9, but showing a different relativearrangement of the turning mechanism and reversing mechanism.

In Fig; 9 the press unit is arranged to print in three colors on oneside and perfect in one color on the other side, whereas in Fig. 10 itis arranged to print-in two colors on one side and perfect in two colorson the op osite side.

Throu'g out the separate views the same parts are designated by the samereference characters.

Referring to the drawings more in detail,

'1 is a roll of paper from which the web is ing the web as passing overthe usual tensioning roller 2, a guide roller 3 and a second ide roller4 before arriving at the printing mechanism. 'From the roller 4,

the web passes downwardly ,this' length of web appearing at point B, inFig. 2, then passes around guide roller 5 between the impression roller6 and printing cylinder 7. The web then passes up over the guide roller8, around a heated drum, such as 9,

returning to the same side of the apparatus on which is the roller 4,this length of the web appearing at C in Fig. 2. The web then passesaround a pair of turning bars,

10..10, these being inclined to the path of the web in the usual mannerand serving to apply the different colors being used.

After passing over the heated drum 9 the last time, the web is broughtaround a pulley or roller 11 from which point it runs to a secondperfecting mechanism 12, identical with that just described. From theperfecting press 12, the web then passes over the rollers 13 and 14 to afolding and cut ting mechanism (not shown) which may be of any knowndesired type.

It will be seen that the turning bars 10-10' are mounted betweenhorizontal rods 15 and 16 and it will be understood that bars such as10' are normally fixed in position relative to the rods 15 and 16,whereas the bars such as 10' may be adjusted longitudinally of the rodswhile the press 1s in operation for the purpose of maintalning sidewiseregister of the successive impressions in the web in the lengths whereit runs from the cylinder 9 to the printing cylinder 7. To permit of theadjustment just mentioned, the bars 10 are fastened at their ends tosleeves such as .17 and 18 which are slidable on the rods 15 and 16,respectively, and the sleeves 18 are provided with threaded lugs, suchas 19, which cooperate with threaded bolts, such as 20, carried by theframe of the press, whereby the sleeves 18 may be adjusted horizontallyin an obvious manner. The bars 10 are fixed at their opposite ends tosleeves, such as 20, which are normally fixed to the rods 15 and 16 bysome convenient means, such as the set screws 21. The sleeves 20 andbars 10 can, of course, be adjusted on the rods 15 when the machine isnot in operation, or any pair or pairs of bars may be removed, whendesired, to permit the use of webs whose width is a multiple of thatshown.

On the side of the mechanism opposite the turning 'bars, are idlerrollers such as 22 which may be adjusted to promote exact longitudinalregister and remove unnecessary slack in the web. The details of thismechanism appear in Figs. 4 and 6. The rollers 22 are mounted at one endof arms such as 23, the other'ends of said arms being.

mounted on one of a set of concentric shafts,- such as 24. The shafts 24run to the outside of the frame of the machine and each carries a wormwheel, such as 25, which meshes with a worm, such as 26, suitablysupported from the frame and by which the 'corre-' in a continuousstream, the inking mecha nism being indicated in Fig. 1 at 27 and shownin detail in Fig. 5. Such mechanism in the preferred form, comprises apump such as 28 by which the ink may be forced up through the conduit 29and projected against the face of the form on the printing cylinder 7 bya nozzle 30 in a continuous surface at the moment falls downwardly, asindicated by the arrows 31, into a hood such as 32, the lower end ofwhich is contracted and bent to connect with the casing of the pump 28,the ink returning to the interior of the pump through apertures, such as33, shown in Fig. 5. It will be seen that a certain amount of air. willbe forced through the pipe 29 by the pump 28 so that the streamdelivered against the printing surface will not be a solid stream ofliquid, but will be more in the nature of a spray? Since we prefer touse what is known as an intaglio press, we have shown a scraper orso-called doctors knife at 34 in Fig. 1,

of the web in the arrangement of Fig. 7 is the same as that in Fig. 1until the point is reached at which it is desired to reverse the face ofthe web presented to the forms. When this point has been reached,instead stream. Ink not adhering to the printing of running the web overa pair of parallel turning bars, such as 10, 10, we pass it over a pairof V-shaped bars, such as are shown at 41 and 42, as will be seen inFig. 9, this operation will result in ,the web being directed upwardlyaway from the printing mechanism, but we reverse its direction again sothat it maypass down to the printing mechanism by running it over aroller, such as 43, whereupon it will be seen that the opposite facefrom that first printed will be presented to the forms. In carrying outthese changes of direction, a given point on the web occupiessuccessively the pos1-,

' 5e, 57 and 5s.

of Fig. 7, provided the folding mechanism is in a certain press unit. a

'In Fig. 10, the reversal of. the printing face is accomplished in thesame manner as in- Fig. 9, but the V-shaped bars 11, 42 have positionwith respect to the been shifted to the left the distance occupied byone form so that a pair of turning bars to the right of the bars &1, 42is neces sary. The last mentioned pair of turning bars are indicated at19, 49' and we have shown these bars as adjustably mounted on rods 50and 51, which are above the level of the rods 15 and 16. Now it will beseen that the position of the bars 49, 49 relative to the V-bars {11 and42, may be varied as desired, providedthere is no interference betweenthe various lengths of the web. Tn the'arangement of Fig. 10, of course,the roller 13 is moved to the left the same amount as the V-bars 11, 42'and for'convenience of illustration, we have shown this roller in Fig.10 above the bars 49 and 49. In Fig. 10 the course of a point on the Webis indicated, in the operation to reverse the printing face, by thearrows 52, 53, 54, 55,

The proper design and adjustment of the impression rollers becomes moreand more difficult and important as the length of the form cylinder andimpression roller increases. For the best printing edects, it isdesirable that the diameter of the impression roller be as small aspossible, but the problem of obtaining uniform pressure on the paperthroughout the length of the impression roller has forced the designersof presses to the use of stifi, he .vy and consequently large. diameterrollers. We intentionally make our impression roller, such as 6, of sosmall a diameter that it is comparatively flexible under the pressuresand within the deflections met with in web press practice. Consequently,we are not only ableto obtainsharp impressions, but we can applydifferent desired pressures to the different lengths of web which passunder the various bands or zones of the roller. We accomplish theseresults by applying the load on the impression roller by meansdistributed along its length and varying especially over the zones ofthe impression roller in contact with the web. We prefer to use forthispurpose a mechanism comprising a plurality of rollers such as 60, whichwe arrange in pairsin planes at right angles to the axes of theimpression rollers 6, there beingpreferably two such pairs of impressionrollers 60 bearing against the impression roller in each band or zone incontact with the web. The rollers 60 are preferably carried in brackets,such as 61, fixed to the underside of a channel, such as 62 or 63. Thevertical webs of these channels are preferably cut in the planesdividing the forms so as to make the channels flexible and we thenadjust the weight or pressure on the channels, in acoordance with thepressure desired on the different lengths of web. The channel 61, shownin- Fig. 1, is designed to receive weights so that the pressure may bearranged as desired, but our preferred arrangement for this purpose isshown in Fig. 8, in which we provide a cross bar or rod, such as 64, onwhich aremounted four set screws, such as 65, one for each form, theseset screws being mounted to rotate freely in the rod 64, but held fromvertical movement by means of collars, such as 66, 67, and the screwshave threaded engagement with the horizontal web of the channel 63,whereby thepressure on same can be adjusted as desired. Of course, thepressure along the whole length of the impression roller 6 can bereadily equalized, but we count it a great advantage also to be able toadjust the presses on the different webs so that if desired the web maybe printed heavily and the color yellow or other color, printed light.In this way we are able to readily obtain fine gradations of color. ifdesired, channel members 61 and 63 may be entirely out through toprovide separate. sections for each form, and the same can also be donewith the impression roller, but we find that sufiicient flexibility canbe readily obtained without this and find that it promotes mechanicalsimplicity to have the sections formed integral.

In order to prevent the different colored inks from the inking rollers,such as 70, from spreading at, the edges of the form and mingling withdeleterious results on the printing, we provide partitions, such as 71,in the planes of division'between the forms, the partitions 71 extendinginto juxtaposition to the forms on cylinder 7, and, if desired, havingmeans pressing against the forms to efi'ectively prevent the spreadingof ink.

We find it advantageous also to divide the doctors knife into sections,such as shown at 75, this arrangement acting to hinder the spreading ofthe ink along the edge with consequent mixing at the edges of the forms.It will be understood that the form of the knife structure may be variedwidely without departing from our idea of interrupting the edge incontact with the form.

It will be seen that the partitions for preventing spreading and mixingof the inks, as well as the special knife structure for the samepurpose, may both be readily used in connection with the form ofspraying ink mechanism shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 5.

It will be seen that the ink applied to the web in any given impressionis dried before the next succeeding impression. W'e find that the dryingpromotes the register of the colors since there is no tendency to blur,

. web presses, when once their desirability due to the spreading of theink at the time of a subsequent impression. Drylng the 1nk of one colorbefore applying the next en-" ables us, moreover, to obtain highlimproved results as to tone and definitlon of the color printing.

Mechanical register is insured not only by the provision of theadjustable turnlng bars and the adjustable idlers previously mentioned,but also by the fact that the printing cylinder is an absolutely unitarystructure of the same diameter throughout, thus eliminating alldifficulties which are ordinarily encountered, due to diflerent sizedcylinders or slightly different driving speeds. It has always beenexceedingly difficult to obtain printing cylinders of exactly the same.diameter and to obtain gears of exactly the same running precision forthe different cylinders. Moreover, even when these ideal conditions werefulfilled in a new press, it has been found exceedingly difficult tomaintain the gear conditions exactly the same after they have been inuse for any length of time, which produces what is known as backlash. Wefind that an exceedingly relatively long cylinderv may be made ofsubstantially the same diameter throughout without undue difficulty inmanufacture.

A further object in using a single relatively long printing cylinderwith a corresponding impression cylinder, resides in the fact that weare thereby enabled to print webs of greatly difi'ering widths on thesame press. For instance, the drawings show the press operating on arelatively narrow web, making four successive impressions. By merelychanging the arrangement of the turning bars and using a wider roller inplace ofthe one shown at 11, with corresponding adjustment of the formsand inking mechanism, it willbe seen that we can use a web either twiceor four times as wide as the one illustrated, using either two inks orone ink, as the'case may be.

These mechanical adjustments, it will be seen, are only such as can bereadily carried out by the persons ordinarily in charge of beensuggested.

While we have described our invention in the form preferred by us, we donot wish to be limited thereto as to the details of construction orarrangement, and we wish it particularly understood that parts of ourinvention may be used without the whole.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is:

1. The combination in a web press of a means for supporting a pluralityof forms in alinementand impression means cooperating therewith, andmeans for passing a web to each of the forms comprising meansintermediate each two forms for offsetting the web and a heatedrevoluble drum around has menace whichthe web passes, said drum being ofsufficient size andtemperature that the ink is dried when the web passesaround the drum once at printing speed.

2. The combination in a web press of a form cylinder and an impressionroller cooperating therewith, a heated revoluble drum around which theweb passes immediately after passing between said cylinder and roller,and means to which the web passes immediately after leaving said drumfor off-setting the web to bring it'in line. with the next form, saiddrum being of sufficient size and temperature that the ink is dried whenthe web passes around the drum once at printing speed.

3. The combination in a web press of a relatively long form rolleradapted to hold a plurality of forms, a relatively long flexibleimpression ,roller, and means whereby the pressure between the forms andthe impression roller may be set as desired at different points alongthe length of the impression roller.

4. The combination in a web press 0f.a relatively long form rollerhaving a plurality of forms thereon and means whereby the pressurebetween the separate forms and the individual lengths of the web incontact therewith may be set to different desired values, said meanscomprising a relatively long impression roller of relatively smalldiameter, idler rollers running on said impression roller and meanswhereby the pressure between said idler rollers and said impressionroller may be set as desired.

5. The combination in a web press of an impression roller, four idlerrollers contacting with said impression roller, and .means whereby thepressure between said idler rollers and said impression roller may beset as desired.

6. The combination in a'web press of a relatively long form cylinder, arelatively long flexible impression roller for cooperating with theforms carried by said cylinder, a seriesofidler rollers runnlng againstsaid impression roller, and means whereby the contact pressure betweensaid idler rollers and said impression roller may be set atdifferent-values at different points along said impression roller. 7

7. The combination in a web press of a relatively long form cylinder, arelatively .long flexible impression roller for codperatsaid impressionroller, said means including saddles for said idler 'rollers and setscrews acting on. said saddles.

8. A multicolor web press comprising said printing-cylinders, "a pair ofturning relatively long form and impression cylinmembers in V-relationto each other, and a ders and means for passing a Web between rollerover which the web is passed after 10 said cylinders a plurality oftimes, comprisleaving the said V members to present the 5 ing a rotatingcylindrical structure, a pluopposite face of the Web to the forms.

rality of sets of parallel turning members RAYMOND N. GETCHES.intermediate said cylindrical structure and ISIDOR TOR-NBERG.

